Heading down the home stretch
Only a handful of days remain until Saturday, May 5. That�s when 2500 cyclists will converge on the Wells Fargo Center to begin their journeys around the beautiful back roads of Sonoma County. These are our guests...our customers. Are we ready for them?
We like to think we are. We hope we are. But we�ll be doing more than hoping when we hit the prime time weekend. By then, a large number of club members will already have been busy for weeks�for months in a few cases�getting everything organized. In particular, WCC Chair Doug Simon has been diligently checking things off on the master check list, making sure that nothing falls through the cracks.
With that goal in mind, he has sent us one last list of volunteer needs, and we pass it along to you here, just in case you haven�t already staked out your turf and your tasks on the big weekend. If you are one of those club members who has not yet locked up an assignment, perhaps because you weren�t sure what needed doing, this list is for you.
� WCC Volunteer needs �
� Sag drivers; half-day shifts, morning or afternoon
We never have enough sags. If you have a vehicle that can haul bikes and bodies, this is your department. If you have a modicum of bike-wrenching smarts and a few tools and parts, even better. But all of that is not essential. The main thing is the transport.
� Registration; Friday, 5:30 pm to 9:00 pm (dinner provided); Saturday, 6:15 am to 10:00 am
No one likes standing in line and we don�t want our guests to take that memory home with them as a part of their WCC experience. More folks helping with check-in cuts down on line time.
� At the finish, after the ride; 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
There are needs here for folks to pitch in around the food service area�lots of little jobs to do�and then there is the big task of cleaning up. Lots to do...never a dull moment.
� Sunday, Santa Rosa; unload trucks; 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Many hands make light work of shifting all the supplies and equipment from our fleet of trucks back into our locker.
Find the appropriate committee chair on the roster on page 8 or check in with volunteer coordinator Kimberly Hoffman. We look forward to seeing you out there on the big day.
The two biggest events of the Santa Rosa Cycling Club�s year come at us pretty much back-to-back. Activity rises to bee-hive intensity around the Wine Country Century on the first weekend in May, with more club members working together than at any other time of the year. Then the process repeats itself at almost the same level of logistical challenge for the Terrible Two Double Century on the third weekend in June (the 16th this year).
You would think, after all of that hard work on the WCC, we would have an �off-season� to relax and congratulate ourselves on a job well done. But that�s not the way it works around here. Prime event dates in the perfect cycling months of May and June are precious few, and in this region we lay claim to two of them. That means the big machine we set in motion for the WCC is revved up again almost immediately for the TT. From a logistical point of view, this is perhaps a good thing: some of the prep work for WCC carries over.
But the one thing that has to be jump-started again each time is the labor pool: all of the 150 or so club members and friends who troop out to support the TT. That�s what you�re hearing right now: the sound of the starter kicking over on that big engine...the first call for volunteers for our other, our second big event.
Veteran TT workers will tell you it�s a cool way to spend a day (and part of a night). Yes, it can be a lot of work. Some workers go home glassy-eyed with fatigue, almost as tired as the riders. But they do that by choice, because they�re so into the magic of the event. They get swept up in the excitement. You can plug into that too, although no one is going to make you stay on the job until you�re exhausted. Shorter tours of duty are available and encouraged.
If you�re one of those TT vets, you won�t need to have your arm twisted to get out there again. This is just a little reminder that it�s time to pick up the phone or tiptoe over the keyboard and let the folks in charge know you want in on the fun...again. If you�ve never been a part of the Terrible Two experience before, now�s your chance.
Helping 250 very hardcore riders in their quests to finish one of the most challenging single-day bike rides in the country is quite an adventure. And it�s nice to know that when you are part of the TT support team, you are part of the team that runs the event that has been voted #1 in Rider Satisfaction several years in a row now. To be a part of this winning team, track down... Craig Gaevert: 545-4133, cgarch@sonic.net Bill Oetinger: 823-9807, srcc@ap.net
The Wine Country Century is a big project. Those who work on it work hard. (The results are obvious to everyone: a fantastic event.) But once the workers are done working, they get to play, and they play as hard as they work. Normally, we have our WCC Workers� Ride and Party the day after the century, but this year, to avoid a conflict with the races downtown, we are holding our event a week later, on Saturday, May 12. (An added benefit of this is that we have more time to tidy up after the century on Sunday, the 6th.)
So the �when� of the Workers� Ride is new this year. And the �where� is new too. We are trying out a new site: Shiloh Park, right on the WCC course on Faught Road. We don�t see much of this park when we ride by on the road, but hidden up in the trees is a delightful picnic area that should work very well for our after-ride relaxing.
Workers may elect to do any of the official WCC courses. The ride is supported with several rest stops. Every rest stop on the regular WCC will be open, except for Ocean Song on the 200-K loop and Graton on the 35-mile loop. In an effort to assist riders in hooking up with others riding at the same pace and on the same course, we are printing here a list of start times. Just as in the real WCC, each course has a start window: a span of time for starting on that course. In theory, slower riders on a given course will start earlier in that time span and quicker riders can start later.
All rides are leaderless. Maps will be provided for all routes. There will also be route slips available for a very short�10 to 15-mile�loop for beginning A riders.
Intertwined with the start times are the times when the various rest stops will be open. Rest stop Open Monte Rio 8:15 am�10:45 am Wohler Bridge 9:30 am�12:30 pm Warm Springs 11:00 am�2:15 pm Alexander Valley 12:30 pm�4:00 pm
The picnic at Shiloh Park will be in full swing from 1:30 to 5:30.
Menu for the picnic
The picnic�and the well-supported century ride(s)�is one of the ways in which the club says, �thank you� to all of the hundreds of volunteers who have worked so hard to make the Wine Country Century such a wonderful event. It�s a way for all of us to come together as a community of caring and sharing people...to ring down the curtain for another year on our own spring classic.
Santa Rosa is bike central on the first weekend in May. On Saturday, the cycle-tourists come to town to do the Wine Country Century. On Sunday, the racers come to town to take part in The John Ramatici Memorial Clo-terium. That�s a long name for a long day of criterium action, with races in various categories, beginning with Juniors being flagged off at 7:30 am and concluding with the Men�s Pro-1-2 main event, set to start at 4:00 pm. In between are races for all categories of amateurs, both men and women, and all ages from Masters on down to a free race for kids.
All the action takes place on a flat, fast, five-corner course around the SR Civic Center, with the start-finish line on Sonoma Avenue. This is a superb venue for watching bike racing. The long, sloping, elevated lawn beside City Hall and running the length of the finishing straight offers excellent vantage points to see the action. It�s also a great spot to simply hang out in the sun, watching not only the racing but also the passing social scene. It�s a block party for the biking community. You�ll run into all your friends there over the course of the day. There are also expo booths for checking out all sorts of bike goodies.
If you�ve never seen real bike racing up close, you owe it to yourself to check out the action at the downtown crits. The racing is fast and fierce and sometimes even a little frightening. Don�t believe us? Go to the races and see for yourself. For more information on the races, including a schedule for the event, go to renesraces.com.
The club throws out the challenge. The members respond. In the spirit of spring fever, when all is new and fresh and anything is possible, members log on to the club�s interactive March Magic website and publish their goals: how many miles am I going to ride in the month of March? Then they have to back it up. They have to get on the bike, rain or shine, light or dark, and crank out the miles to meet their targets.
This year, over 60 members got on board, setting a total of 67 goals. (Some set goals for both regular bikes and fixies.) Altogether, these plucky pedalers racked up almost 40,000 miles...almost 1300 miles a day. Nine riders set their goal at 1000 miles and six of them made it. Alan Bloom, Doug McKenzie, Charlie Rowell, Denise Prue, Dennis Forer, and Greg Durbin. In addition, two riders who pledged to do 750 miles topped 1000 as well�Dave Trumbo and Bill Ellis�and another whose goal was only 500�Sue Bennett�just missed 1000 by a mere 7 miles.
Of the 67 goals laid out at the beginning of the month, only 18 fell short, and several of those missed by just a handful of miles. So all in all, we�d have to say this was a very successful program.
All riders who participated were awarded commemorative long-sleeve tees with original March Magic graphics.
We left off this never-ending chronicle last month with folks wandering around in the west county hills on the Apple Cider Century. We pick up the thread of club ride lore in the following week, and we find the same folks still out in those same west county hills, still beavering away at yet another hilly century. This one was dreamed up by Mark Sedgwick and Brian Carroll and was called the King Ridge Express. It started at Willowside School and did enough roads to add up to a very stout 120-mile ride, at least if you bought into the whole package. That included not only the legendary King Ridge, but also the run north on Tin Barn and Stewarts Point and the steep ascent of Fort Ross to Meyers Grade. There was a shorter option that took Hauser Bridge and Seaview to get to Meyers. That one was only 95 miles. Several people, including this reporter, found ways to join the ride somewhere along the route. Between those coming onto the route early or late and those finding ways to bail at the end, it was hard to get a handle on just how many people were out there. After comparing notes on the chat list, I think we decided there were over 30 riders somewhere on the course, and that�s not counting a group from another club�a bunch of TT vets�who were on the King with us. There were the usual hard boys, churning up the hills at a furious clip, but there were also plenty of riders tackling the steep pitches at a more dignified pace. Weather was just about perfect. We had worried ahead of time that we would drop into the chill, damp fog out on the coast, but it very considerately backed a few hundred yards off-shore and left us in bright but cool sunshine. There was even a hint of a tailwind coming down the coast. Perfect spring weather, world-class climbs and descents, the west county looking its springtime best, and a good crowd of like-minded maniacs. It all adds up to another perfect club ride in paradise.
But this was not the only club ride on the day. It wasn�t even the only 200-K, for pete�s sake. Martin Clinton has his annual March Magic mileage-making Double County, Double Metric on the card as well. Martin sent in this report: �Twenty riders set out from Howarth, plus one collected en route for this annual ride. As arranged, Steve Drucker led about half the group at a BC pace, while my pace was a steady B, becoming B-minus due to lack of miles this year. The wind did not cooperate along the Silverado Trail on this occasion and there were five flat tires, but everyone persevered and finished before dark. Perhaps as well that the clocks had changed to allow more time?�
But wait: there�s more! For those who didn�t fancy 200-K on this lovely spring day, Ken Russeff had his Almost 40 Miles of Back Road on the list. He reports: �Almost 40 miles of Back Road was sort of based on Duane Eddy�s 60�s hit �40 miles of bad road.� Well, the roads weren�t bad and we didn�t go 40 miles. However, 16 of us AB riders had another super Sonoma County day. We had four visiting riders and two new club members, Diana and John. Only one incident as one clown couldn�t get out of his Speedplays and took a flop. Me. No harm, no foul. Warning, Kaffe Mocha on Airport Boulevard can be very crowded on weekends. Wow, Spring is here.�
The hits just kept on coming on Sunday as well. Randall Ray had another edition of his Occidental Tourist on the card. �We started as 18 and picked up a few on the road, so maybe 24 riders, with three non-members as well. The overcast burned off and made for a cool breezy day with puffy clouds to ponder. A pretty unremarkable day really, which I suppose is a good thing. As I like to do, I hung back with the slower group of about 6-10 riders. We made a B tempo, chatting and joking away the miles. Even though I listed this old route because it was close to press-time and I just pulled it from the archives, the route is a nice combination of climbs, descents, and scenery, plus the bakery at Freestone! (It would be challenging to put together a route in this area without the climbs, descents, and scenery, though... Well, and a killer bakery.)� On the same day, Rose Mello had her Fabulous Fifty ride, a classic Wine Country loop through the Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River valleys. I don�t know much about how it went, except that Rosa says 23 riders were on hand and that it was another wonderful day to be out on the bike.
The next weekend up�with one foot in March and the other in April�seemed to draw inspiration from both the miles mania of March Magic and the climbing craze of April Alpina. The calendar was packed with big rides. Leading things off was our traditional 300-K brevet. That�s almost 200 miles, for those of you who still can�t do your metric conversions. But it�s not just the miles that make this ride a challenge. When you ride from Healdsburg to the Point Reyes Light Station and back, the key word is �wind.� It�s always a factor, and this year was no exception. Brevet participant Adrienne Ruggles chimes in with this report: �About 50 cyclists, including Donn King, Jose Mundo, and Charlie Rowell, set out from Healdsburg (waved off by Donna Emery and Sharron Bates). I was on a tandem with Tom Milton. In fine brevet style, riders spread out fairly quickly and Tom and I were on our own much of the day. The ride down the coast was lovely: tailwinds the whole way (hmm...). We climbed our way to the lighthouse and headed back toward home. Oddly, the rollers seemed steeper going the other direction. The headwind everyone expects was waiting for us when we got off the peninsula. Friendly faces, including Dave Trumbo, were much welcomed at the Valley Ford controle. Just north of Valley Ford, we picked up a couple of single bikes who were happy to have us pull them north. Hot chili and the smiling faces of Sue Bennet, Alan Bloom, and Jon Dick were the order of the evening at the Monte Rio controle. From there, it was singing silly songs and making up limericks as we headed up Westside Road to the finish. A Santa Rosa Cycling Club brevet would not be complete without Donn King and beer at the finish. So we ate and drank and chatted the night away (until I fell asleep and the party went on around me). A wonderful time was had by all (or at least by me). Thank you to all for a fine event.�
If you didn�t choose to joust with the milling winds on this last day of March, you could instead have chosen to do Marc Moons� Fearsome Five ride: five big climbs, 128 miles, and 14,500' of steep climbing. South to north over the Geysers; Pine Mountain up-&-back; back over the Geysers; south on 128 to an up-&-back on Ida Clayton; and finally, back to Jimtown and the classic up-&-back on Pine (not very) Flat. Ouch. Considering the severity of the assignment, quite a large gang showed up for this beast. Over 20. Half dropped out after the first three climbs, having accumulated almost 70 miles and 8500'. Ten headed south to Ida Clayton and returned to Jimtown with 103 miles and a little over 11,000'. Finally, at about 5:30 in the evening, with the light fading, four riders started up Pine Flat. Marc Moons, Tony Lee, Charles Beck, and Scott McEldowney. Scott turned back as the daylight dimmed, but the others made it to the top with the help of a full moon. This might proved to be another spring classic to match the Bad Little Brother. All the riders thanked Marc and Rita for providing great support.
More of the same vertical abuse was available to those who wanted it the next day. Bill Dunn and Paul and Janet McKenzie laid out the daunting challenge of their Nifty Ten Fifty ride. The name reflects the specs on the ride: 10,000' of very steep climbing in just over 50 miles in the hills around Berkeley. Paul reports that a baker�s dozen showed up to bake their legs on ten gnarly walls ranging in pitch all the way up to the knee-popping 26% of Marin. Doug McKenzie took KOM honors this year, coming out on top of hill-climbing legends Ray Plumhoff and Tom Williard. Through good ride management, the slower and faster riders were able to meet up several times during the course of the day, most importantly at the end, at Pyramid Brewery, where large pitchers of IPA were put to good use dousing the many flaming quads.
If all that was too much, Wayne Kellam had a more modest proposal for the weekend: a fairly basic Cotati-Tomales Loop. �April first was one of those days when you don�t know whether to bring your windbreaker or not. It was sunny and warm at the start, but soon became breezy and overcast. We had a headwind all the way to the coast. I knew that I was going to be cold above Dillon Beach. Our rest stop at Tomales was fine. The sun had asserted itself and Tomales lies in a wind-shielded depression. Dillon Beach road west of Tomales is a pretty good climb, so that when we arrived at the ridge overlooking Dillon Beach, we all had a lot of internal heat. It was cold and windy on the ridge. I think I was the only one to stop there to admire the view. The descent on Franklin School road was spooky, with strong, irregular winds. Turning onto Whitacker Bluff road, the ride changed completely. Instead of a cold ride into the wind, it was a warm, sunny, relatively windless ride home to Cotati.�
There were other ways to horse around on a bike on this fine spring weekend: five clubsters traveled south to Solvang for the double century. I was checking out the results and discovered they have a two-tier finishing order: those who do a mass start at 7:30 and ride for ET, and those who just ride and don�t get their time recorded. In the former category, we had Craig Robertson, finishing tied for 6th overall in a snappy 9:35. Then in the latter category, we find Greg Durbin, Dennis Forer, Joe Morgan, and Denise Prue. (Those names are in alpha order and don�t imply finishing order, but my understanding is that they all did quite well and had a good time.)
A week later, we had the first century of April. In contrast to some of the whopper rides of recent weeks, this was just about as easy as a century could be. It was essentially the same ride we listed last September: a grand loop down the Valley of the Moon, around the Carneros, up Napa Valley and back around through Knights Valley and the Chalk Hill region. This version, listed by Alan Bloom, started at Howarth Park. The ride offered a classic example of the supportive nature of club rides. (Some might call it peer pressure; others might deem it co-dependency.) At the start, a heavy, persistent mist was making the roads and everyone out on the roads quite damp. Had I been on my own, I probably would have blown off the ride and gone home. But with all the riders egging one another on, somehow we all convinced ourselves it was reasonable to begin a century ride�one with no obvious shortcuts�in weather that was just a few technicalities short of pouring rain. The mist persisted in drifting down upon us for at least the first 40 miles of the ride. It never quite got to the point of being solid, no-doubt-about-it rain, and we�the dozen riders�never quite got to the point of being soaked through. Just a bit damp on the outside. Then, as we turned north into Napa Valley, we started seeing little patches of blue amidst the grey, and by the time we had reached Silverado Trail, the sky stopped drizzling, the roads began to dry out, and so did we. We amused ourselves all the way up the wide shoulder of Silverado Trail�all the way from Napa to Calistoga�by keeping a rotating paceline going. Once everyone figured out the drill, we actually did a reasonable job of it...looked like we knew what we were doing. Having a mild tailwind helped to make it seem like a pretty slick operation. After a break in Calistoga, that tidy choreography fell apart somewhat. The county line hill north of town broke the group into smaller pods, but those little groups worked together well enough, and everyone chugged back to Santa Rosa in fine form. The fact that we had called the weather�s bluff and had ridden through to blue skies made the day all that much sweeter.
There was another ride scheduled for the same day: Robin Abramson had an A ride out of Ragle. I asked her how it went and this is what she had to say: �We got to Ragle Park and it was misting heavily. Six of us went to Coffee Katz. Some other folks went on a shorter ride. I am very disappointed, as it was my first time ever leading an official SRCC ride. Now�on April 14�it is raining and my ride today will be cancelled as well. It better not rain on my next ride start! I am beginning to wonder if there is literally a cloud over my head.� Cheer up, Robin! Having rides washed out is all part of deal, especially in April. What is it about April? We come flying out of winter, pumped up with plans and hopes for the new season, ready to rock and roll right on down the road, and then April comes along with its famous showers and slaps us up side the head. Happens every year.
The following day�Easter�the mist that had dampened both the Saturday rides had gone elsewhere, and Denise and Annie had a fine time on their Spring Ramble: �Perfect weather, 18 nice folks, lots of regroups for a B ride, a couple of A riders, and only two flats.� One of our best ride leaders listed one of our favorite old rides on this day as well: Rose Mello organized a ride from the Larkspur Ferry terminal into San Francisco, with the return via the ferry across the bay. One variation of this ride or another pops up on the schedule about once a year. It�s always fun, and if you haven�t ever done it, you ought to give it a try. Rose only had eight in the group this time.
And that brings us once again to the Second Saturday rides, which in April were supposed to be an extra specially big deal, finishing up at a club picnic at the new Riverfront Regional Park off Eastside Road. This was also the March Magic picnic, where the MM participants were to be presented with their souvenir t-shirts. Somewhere over 110 people had RSVP�d, and the folks in charge had thrown together a wonderful menu of chow for the occasion, from barbecued tri-tip to polenta to chocolate chip brownies, with all sorts of good drinks and munchies. The only problem: it was raining at the start of the day, when all of the riders were forming up for their respective rides. I was one of the ride leaders, and unlike the week before, when I was peer-pressured into riding in the mist, this time I chose not to get wet. Hey, it was seriously raining at my place at ride time! I guess I earned myself some major wuss points though, because quite a lot of other riders didn�t back off at all. They layered on the rain gear and slogged off into the storm. And their plucky spirit was rewarded: almost immediately, the rain fizzled out and the riders carried on under clearing skies and over drying roads...same as the week before. Mind you, there were nowhere near 110 riders out there. Many others who has RSVP�d stayed home. Some of us who didn�t ride came to the park and hiked around the lake, putting just a bit of an edge on our appetites for the great spread of food. So the bad news is it rained on our picnic, but the good news is it didn�t rain too much and it wasn�t enough to keep many of the riders from completing their appointed rounds. And in the end, a fine time was had by a goodly number of clubsters at our first annual April picnic...maybe 75 people. A big round of applause please for Doug Simon and all the other people who pitched in on the food prep and logistics. It was a big job and it was done well under less than ideal circumstances.
This also happened to be the date of the Mulholland Double down in the coastal hills north of LA. It�s the first double in this year�s California Triple Crown Stage Race, and as such, it attracts some of the big guns on the doubles circuit. Our club was ably represented by Marc Moons, Tony Lee, and Greg Durbin. On a brutally tough course�more elevation gain than the Terrible Two�they did quite well. Marc finished first overall and Tony was fifth. Greg lost bags of time to three difficult flats and finished in mid-pack but feeling pretty good. Watch out for these guys at Devil Mountain next...
There were club rides on the following day as well�April 15�and the clearing that had begun on Saturday afternoon was complete by Sunday morning. The broom that swept away the clouds was a stiff, cold wind blowing half a gale, straight out of the north. The ride was Doug McKenzie�s annual Pine Flat Challenge, which is three-quarters of the way to being a race. Doug reports: �It was a great day for an assault on Pine Flat. I had received many replies from the flier I put out, so I expected a big group. Sure enough, at least 30 were at the start at Piner High, and as we rode up to Pine Flat that number seemed to grow. It was a fairly well-behaved group as the stiff headwind kept us from going too fast. The pack did splinter into sub groups along the way, but we all arrived at the base of the climb within a few minutes. And not surprisingly, about a half dozen more were there to join in. It was a diversified group, from a local pro�Brenda Lyons�to some who just hoped to make it to the top. Deanna and Kathy were our timers for the day. Deanna started the group and the potential winners took off sprinting... of course I had to chase! I hung in a group of six, then five, then off the back while the four top placers took off. I decided to back off a bit and get someone to help pace me. Giampaolo caught me with Brenda on his wheel, both big-ringing it. Brenda fell off at about mile 5; I hung on until about mile 6. By this time the leaders were out of sight, but I kept Giampaolo in sight. It remained like this all the way to the finish. I gained a few seconds near the top, but Giampaolo saw me and wicked it up for the final quarter mile. We all regrouped at the top for drinks and cookies and cheered on the finishers. The ride back split into sub groups... racer types had to get going of course, and then the rest of us. We had a strong tailwind for the ride over Chalk Hill (which felt like Chalk Mountain!).� Doug posts all the times for the finishers�those who want their times published�at a web page. I don�t know the URL, but if you�re curious, Doug can tell you.
Meanwhile, on the same day but miles away in terms of intensity, Mike and Janice Eunice had another of their Welcome Wagon entry-level rides for novice cyclists. We don�t report too much on these recurring rides�same as with the regular weekday rides�but Janice says she�s going to keep doing them as long as there is a demand, and the fact that she�s continuing to list them seems to indicate the demand is there: getting new riders on their bikes and up to speed. What a treasure Mike and Janice are for this club and for cycling in this region.
One final note: we still have room for a few more participants on the club�s Mid-State Tour (June 2-9). This is a great tour through a lovely region (from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles). If you�re interested, talk to Doug Simon or Bill Oetinger.
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